Lauchlan Toal Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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Not sure if this helps, but here's a shot with a 100% crop that I got at 500mm f6.3 on the Nikon D610, with ISO 400 and 1/3200 shutter speed. In PhotoShop CC Adobe Camera Raw I applied 50 sharpening at radius 0.5, 25 detail, 0 masking, 0 luminance, 25 color, 50 color detail, and 50 color smoothness.
The EXIF says the distance was 56.2 - not sure if that's feet or meters, probably meters, but the subject size gives you an idea of the distance.
I find that getting the focus right is the main issue with far off birds in flight, but at the distance this shot was taken at and closer it consistently gives me shots I'm happy with. It's only when the subject's so far away that the shot's pretty pointless anyway that I really wonder if it's sharp. But our expectations, our camera, and our processing choices all make a huge difference, so hopefully the information and sample crop here shows what I'm getting from the lens and how, and lets you directly compare results.
EDIT: If you're using the D5100 as your username might suggest, that could be a factor. I have a D5200 that I brought along to shoot the eagles the same day I took the photo above, and ended up only taking about 10 shots before putting it away in favour of the D610. While I loved the extra reach the crop sensor gave me, I wasn't happy with the results. Perhaps due to the atmospheric softening being more visible or perhaps from the lack of AF adjust functionality, or perhaps both. I found the same thing when shooting the moon - the D610 gave me better images despite the D5200 putting more pixels on the subject. I still love the D5200 for using shorter lenses and photographing nearby things, and plenty of people are getting great shots with it (and I have no doubt that with a D5200 or D5100 you can get great shots), but personally I find it's a lot easier to get the shots I want with the D610. Maybe it's just me and a quirk of my kit or technique, but in my experience it is noticeably harder to get the best images from a D5x00 camera. Possible, definitely. But consistency could be more challenging.
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